The Manbij bombing occurred on 16 January 2019 when a

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

targeted a busy market street in

Manbij Manbij ( ar, مَنْبِج, Manbiǧ, ku, مەنبج, Minbic, tr, Münbiç, Menbic, or Menbiç) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of the Euphrates. In the 2004 census by the Cent ...

known to be frequented by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soldiers.

Background

In the Syrian Civil War, the city of

was taken by the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...

in 2012, and then by

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

in 2014. In 2016, the city was taken by the American-backed

Syrian Democratic Forces , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder , caption = Flag , active = 10 October 2015 – present , ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...

in the

Manbij offensive {{Infobox military conflict , conflict= Manbij offensive (2016) , width = 400px , partof= the Rojava–Islamist conflict and the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War , image=Manbijof.png , image_size=350px , caption= Map showing SD ...

. The Palace of the Princes restaurant was popular with

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

, located on a crowded downtown street in Manbij. U.S. Senators

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...

and

Jeanne Shaheen Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen ( ; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American retired educator and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Shaheen served as the 78th ...

ate there when they visited Syria in July 2018.

The attack

Several American military personnel were inside the Palace of Princes restaurant when a suicide bomber triggered an explosion outside the restaurant around midday on Wednesday, 16 January 2019. The bomber mixed into a crowd of people visiting a nearby vegetable market and detonated his explosive vest near the restaurant entrance, igniting a fireball that left the dead and wounded scattered in the street. Rescue workers rushed the wounded to the hospital, and military helicopters landed on a nearby soccer field to take the dead and wounded Americans and civilians to medical facilities.

Casualties

The U.S.

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

released a statement on 18 January 2019, identifying their three employees: a soldier, a sailor, and an intelligence expert. Defense contractor Valiant Integrated Services identified one of their employees as the fourth American killed. The four deceased Americans were: * Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, 37, of

Boynton Beach, Florida Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is situated about 57 miles north of Miami. The population was 68,217 at the 2010 census. In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 78,679 according to the University o ...

. Farmer was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne),

Fort Campbell Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee, Clarksville, Tennessee (post address is located in Kentucky). F ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. * Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive)

Shannon M. Kent Shannon Mary Kent (née Smith, May 11, 1983 – January 16, 2019) was a United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer and Cryptologic Technician, who was deployed to Syria and killed in the 2019 Manbij bombing. Early life and education Kent was ...

, 35, of

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

. Kent was assigned to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, based at

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the N ...

, Maryland. * DOD civilian

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way a ...

Scott A. Wirtz of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri. Wirtz was assigned to the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the I ...

as an operations support specialist. * Civilian contractor Ghadir (Jasmine) Taher of

East Point, Georgia East Point is a suburban city located southwest of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,358. The city name ...

. Taher worked for Valiant Integrated Services as an interpreter for U.S. troops in Syria. The total death toll is believed to be 19, including 15 local SDF fighters. Three other American servicemen were also injured. The

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

claimed responsibility.

Aftermath

President Trump Attends Dignified Transfer of Remains Ceremony (46103336184)

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

paid tribute to the fallen Americans during a trip to

Dover Air Force Base Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. 436th AW is the host wing and runs the busiest and largest a ...

in the US state of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

on 19 January, where their remains were received. A second joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria was hit in

al-Hasakah Al-Hasakah ( ar, ٱلْحَسَكَة, al-Ḥasaka; ku, Heseke/حەسەکە; syr, ܚܣܝܟܐ Hasake), is the capital city of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, in the northeastern corner of Syria. With a 2004 census population of 188,160, it is the e ...

5 days later, there were no casualties, with two Kurdish fighters were lightly wounded in the blast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manbij bombing, 2019 2019 murders in Syria Aleppo Governorate in the Syrian civil war Attacks on buildings and structures in Syria Attacks on restaurants in Asia Conflicts in 2019 Crime in Aleppo Governorate ISIL terrorist incidents in Syria Islamic terrorist incidents in 2019 January 2019 crimes in Asia January 2019 events in Syria Mass murder in 2019 Mass murder in Syria Suicide bombings in 2019 Suicide bombings in Syria Terrorist incidents in Asia in 2019 Terrorist incidents in Syria in 2019 Building bombings in Syria